Kids and random pickyness!

[ZennaBug]

<--- picky eater 

I don't eat cheese.  At all!  I even scrape it off of pizza and I've done that as long as I can remember.  I also don't eat fish, mushrooms, tomatoes, zucchini, or eggs.  And I've gotten BETTER since I was a kid.  So I'm sure my parents feel your pain.  I cook for myself now lol

[kaoskat]

I'm not even going to list the things I won't eat. I'd be here all night. The big 4 are cheese, onions, garlic, and fish though.

[ZennaBug]

I'm not even going to list the things I won't eat. I'd be here all night. The big 4 are cheese, onions, garlic, and fish though.

You don't eat cheese either?!?!?  I thought I was the only one on the planet!    I like very few onions (onion rings are ok and I use them in some foods) and no fish.  I do like garlic though

[StarearedKid]

My brother was liked that. I remember one incident where he would eat marina sauce just fine--but would refuse to eat it if someone called it "tomato sauce." He order chicken fingers in a restaurant with a side of marina sauce, and when the waitress brought it to him---she said "tomato sauce." He wouldn't touch his dinner that night. I think he hated anything with the word "tomato" in it because he watched "Attack of the Killer Tomatoes" way too many times.


*edited for typos*

[Eviecorn]

My Alex is like that...at daycare he eats everything at home if it isn't a Nuetella sandwich or pancakes or veggies straws or a fruit cup he won't go near it.

This reminds me of my son!  He'll eat anything they hand him at school, but at home, it's peas or green beans, a banana, or bread only.  It's a struggle to get him to eat a protein at home, but he's been more receptive to beans lately.

He'll also react with aggressive disdain if you ever suggest that he eats pasta.  Really?  A kid that doesn't like pasta?

[ponylady]

My nephews are 13 and 15 and I swear the only thing they have eaten their entire life is peanut butter sandwiches and soft pretzels.
 
 And they hate pasta too Evie.  What kid hates mac&cheese?

[starrypawz]

I wasn't too bad as a kid, I remember though I went through a point where I didn't want spinach and of course there's my general 'no spicy food' problem (I blame my dad, he made a chille con carne once when I was younger and made it a little too spicy) I can eat spicy stuff but mildly spicy

[Shlugh]

Most kids go through these phases. 

My girl is 5 too and also has her food habits. Cereal is eaten dry, with a glass of milk at the side. Apple must be chopped into 8 segments and the core removed. Oh, and heaven forbid that I buy a different brand of yoghurt from her preferred one.
My mum says children do it at this age, because they are starting to realise that they can control aspects of their life and take charge. They get a little power happy making their little rituals and preferences, but most will grow out of it.

I don't know if she's right or wrong, but as a mum of 5, I trust her, and it seems to make sense.

Main thing is, if they are growing and developing well, they must be eating enough (even if not exactly what we'd like.) 
S xx

[HavACrumpet452]

I wasn't allowed to leave the table as a child if my plate wasn't clean. Didn't matter if you didn't like it, it was better than getting a belt or paddle across your rear. My aunt babysits a picky eater right now and she's always making recipes that hide veggies in everything, even chocolate pudding.

[GazeboMouse]

If it is any consolation... I work in a Special school. When one of my little friends who is severly Autistic first started school, for over a year he'd only be persaded to eat dinner if we poured the tinned spaghetti over the top that his mum had to send with him in a Thermos flask each day. Whatever the food that was on the plate.
Another boy would only eat his very limited (particular melt-in-the-mouth-type crisps, pot of porridge, custard cream biscuits) packed lunch if the spoon was dipped in yoghurt first before every mouthful!

[Noasar]

Wow I don't know what I would do if my kid was a picky eater! I will eat anything and I mean anything! There's not one thing on Earth that I have yet to eat and not like. I love my food! I enjoy trying new things and different flavours, so I really don't understand how people can get such a phobia about food. It brings so much happiness to my life that I think I would be very bored just eating the same few 'safe' foods every day.

I'm hoping that if we just expose our kids to as many new flavours as we can they simply won't know any different, so they won't have a chance to be picky! That, and if they don't eat what they're given they won't eat at all - is that a bit harsh?

[Roccoriel]

Wow I don't know what I would do if my kid was a picky eater! I will eat anything and I mean anything! There's not one thing on Earth that I have yet to eat and not like. I love my food! I enjoy trying new things and different flavours, so I really don't understand how people can get such a phobia about food. It brings so much happiness to my life that I think I would be very bored just eating the same few 'safe' foods every day.

I'm hoping that if we just expose our kids to as many new flavours as we can they simply won't know any different, so they won't have a chance to be picky! That, and if they don't eat what they're given they won't eat at all - is that a bit harsh?

This is how I feel, too.  I would be so upset if we had kids and they were picky because I love so many different foods.  I'm willing to make some alterations (like I love beets and my boyfriend hates them, so I give him double on another side if I have beets) but I think I'd pretty much refuse to make a second full meal if I want to make one thing and my kid only eats chicken nuggets.  And I certainly wouldn't be eating chicken nuggets every night... 

I think kids sometimes just see their friends being picky and try to emulate them (I did this a few times as a kid).  Also, I think that if kids are exposed to more foods, they are less likely to be picky.  My family ate a huge variety of food, and I was a lot less picky than my cousins, for example, who only ate hot dogs, Kraft Mac and Cheese, plain chicken, and fast food (in fact, they wouldn't eat mac and cheese if it wasn't Kraft with orange cheese....).  To this day, my cousins are a lot more picky than I am, and we're all in our 20s now.

[RavenWolf]

The one thing I have little patients for is picky eaters.    Now I was the pickiest kid ever, there was only one or two things I'd eat... at least at home, because I knew I could get what I wanted to eat if I refused to eat what was made for diner. I am so glad I grew out of that! (helped along by a few times in my early adulthood of having a very limited food budget) Now I enjoy a variety of food and trying new things.
I don't really like the idea of hiding veggies and stuff in food as that isn't teaching a child how to eat healthy. Picky or not everyone has food they don't care for, what I did with my daughter was make up a list on an index card. She was aloud to pick 5 foods she didn't like and I wrote them on the card. The rules where if a food wasn't on her list she had to eat it, and she was not aloud to change the list during meal time! She could add new foods to the list, but only if something else was taken off the "Doesn't have to eat list". She also had to be specific, she couldn't put Vegetables on the list but could put green beans. Or she couldn't put all pasta on the list but could put Mac and cheese with elbow macaroni.
I found it worked really well, She wasn't as picky as she felt she had some control over what she didn't want to eat, and I had less surprise pickyness
I have also found that the more I let my daughter help me plan and more importantly prepare the meals the more she likes to eat it! 

[Elisto]

Ravenwolf, the cards are a neat idea! I'm with you on the not hiding vegetables in their food, and I've read that it's not such a good idea because even if it gets them to eat it short term, they won't learn to eat them long term.

I'm not a picky eater at all now and love trying all different things, but I went through a phase where I was weird about food too...like for one year I decided I no longer liked tomato sauce in any form, except on pizza...which frustrated my family to no end because we're Italian and eat a lot of tomato sauce! My parents would just give me whatever else they had made, usually salad, plus the pasta with a little butter and cheese instead of sauce whenever they made it. Actually, now that I think about it, I also ate all my salads plain (just lettuce and cucumber) until high school. I kind of can't believe it now.